World Academy Forum on the Future of Global Higher Education

World Academy Forum on Global Higher Education brought together leading-edge educators, universities, MOOCs, technology providers and other stakeholders to brainstorm new models and creative solutions for establishing a world-class system of higher education available to all humanity and to forge an international alliance of stakeholders to make it happen.

Recognizing the huge, rapidly expanding gap between educational needs and resources, the resulting deficiencies in development of precious and perishable human potentialities, and the consequent incalculable losses for individuals, families and communities, which can only be remedied by a massive global effort to meet the challenge, the World University Consortium will seek to develop innovative strategies for enhancing accessibility, affordability, quality, creativity and relevance in the field of higher education at the global level.

The UC Berkeley Forum is an integral component of the Academy’s broader program to evolve a New Paradigm for Human Development able to fulfill the aspirations of all human beings.

Challenges:

Spurred by lower government spending and rising costs for a college education, student debt in the USA has topped $1 trillion. It now exceeds total credit card debt.

As levels of youth unemployment continue to top 80 million world-wide, a college degree is no longer a guarantee of a good job. Should we be educating more people to find jobs or to create their own?

Today millions of new students flock to colleges and universities in emerging countries seeking passports to new jobs which do not exist.

The needs of society are changing so rapidly that businesses throughout the world face the paradox of more and more job applicants who are less and less qualified for the positions they seek.

Education is the foundation system for the progress of civilization and culture, but it is bound by a cumbersome two-generation delay – elders teach their offspring what they themselves learned in their youth from their own elders. Given the tremendous speed of social change, it risks falling further and further behind the needs of fresh generations. A severe shortage of qualified faculty already plagues systems of higher education in developing countries such as India where faculty vacancies are about 40%.

For the whole world to rise to Western levels of higher education, the global system would have to expand to accommodate an additional 350 million students – that’s equivalent to founding more than 50,000 new Harvards and Stanfords.

Opportunities:

Education is bursting out of the boundaries of brick and mortar. If you were going to found another retail book seller today, would you build another brick and mortar local chain of stores or …?

If you were going to create a new encyclopedia for the world, how would you do it? The world’s teachers and incubators for emerging technology are finally beginning to emerge. During the past two years, more than 20 MOOCs have been established in the USA alone. Will MOOCs become the model global delivery system for the future or are they forerunners of something else?

Recall the most inspiring college professor of your youth. How many can you think of? Imagine a system in which the world’s most inspiring lecturers were accessible to students everywhere in the world in their own homes and in their own language. Can inspiring higher education be effectively delivered in TED-video fashion?

Steve Jobs dropped out of college so he could attend the courses he really liked – his course in calligraphy was the inspiration for the graphic user interface displaying scalable fonts on the Macintosh. Could his exceptional experience become a new norm for more creative forms of education that foster creativity, original thinking and genius rather than packaged learning?

The need for life-long learning has long necessitated changes to provide on-going educational opportunities throughout the working life and even during retirement. How will the double-helix relationship between education and career evolve?

The traditional boundaries separating academia from business are blurring and melting rapidly. Corporations already represent the largest education and training organizations in the world. Will universities be ready and able to compete?

Imagine a global system providing low cost, high quality, state-of-the-art, multilingual higher education. What would it look like? How would it function? What can be done to make it happen better and faster?

Issue: Whatfactors andforces are driving change in global higher education and where are they headed?

Moderator: Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, President Emeritus, United Nations University*

Speakers:

Dan Clancy, Director of Education, Google

John Halpin, VP Strategic Programs, Center for Digital Education

Paul Corey, President Science, Business and Technology Division, Pearson

Jeremy Johnson, Chief Strategy Officer, 2U.com

2:40 – 4:00

Parallel Session 5A: Panel Discussion on New Ways of Learning

Issue: What are the non-technological emerging trends in higher education? How can new methods improve the way we learn, the capacity to customize learning to individual needs and capacities, the role of student-faculty and student-student interactivity and networking, and related issues?

Moderator: Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, President Emeritus, United Nations University*

Fabián Banga is the Distance Education Coordinator & Professor at Berkeley City College. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Hispanic Languages & Literature from UC Berkeley. He is co-chair of the Technology Committee for the Peralta Community College District. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Foreign Language Association of Northern California.

Tony Bates

President, Tony Bates Associates Ltd.

Tony Bates is President and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd, a private company specializing in consultancy and training in the planning and management of e-learning and distance education. He was Director of Distance Education at the University of British Columbia. He has been an academic advisor for various organizations across the world.

Robert J Berg*

Former Senior Adviser, World Education Forum

Robert J. Berg is on a UN expert group concerned with the economic and governance implications of climate change and also works with graduate students from a number of universities studying UN reform issues. He proposed and co-authored the UN's first system-wide substantive initiative, the second being the Millennium Development Goals.

George W. Breslauer

Excecutive Vice Chancellor, UC Berkeley

George W. Breslauer is the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of the University of California at Berkeley. He received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He is a specialist on Soviet politics and foreign relations, having authored or edited 12 books on the subject, most recently "Gorbachev and Yeltsin as Leaders."

Dan Clancy

Director of Education, Google

Daniel J. Clancy is the director of research at Google. He was the Director of the Exploration Technologies Directorate at NASA Ames Research Center prior to coming to Google in 2005. He has a PhD in artificial intelligence from the University of Texas at Austin.

Emil Costantinescu*

President, Academy of Cultural Diplomacy, former President of Romania and Rector University of Bucharest

Emil Constantinescu, former President of Romania (1996-2000), leader of the Romanian Democratic Convention (1992-1996) and former Rector of the University of Bucharest, is currently President of the Romanian Academic Forum. A scientist, researcher, active politician and a committed civil servant, he has published extensively on mineralogy as well as on political, economic and educational issues.

Paul Corey

President Science, Business and Technology Division, Pearson

Paul F. Corey is the President of Pearson Education's Science, Business & Technology Division, a post he has held since 2000. In his role as President, Paul is responsible for leading a team whose charge is to partner with educational leaders in advancing access, achievement and affordability in STEM and related fields in postsecondary education.

Jorge Klor de Alva

President, Nexus Research & Policy Center, former President, University of Phoenix

Jorge Klor de Alva is President, Nexus Research and Policy Center; former President of the University of Phoenix and Chair/CEO of Apollo International, Inc. Published over 100 scholarly articles, 24 textbooks/monographs in the social sciences. Consultant to Lumina, ETS, GRE, College Board, NYS Dept. of Ed., Smithsonian Institution. B.A. and J.D., UC-Berkeley; Ph.D., UC-Santa Cruz.

Heitor Gurgulino de Souza*

President Emeritus, United Nations University

Heitor Gurgulino de Souza, currently the President of the Brazilian Chapter of the Club of Rome, recently retired as Vice President of the Club. He was appointed to the Council of the United Nations University (UNU) in 1986 and was selected by the UN Secretary General as UNU’s Rector the following year.

Riane Eisler*

President, Center for Partnership Studies, Monterey

Riane Eisler is a systems scientist and an attorney working for human rights. She is President of the Center for Partnership Studies and consults for business and governments on applications of the partnership model introduced in her work. She keynotes major conferences and speaks at universities and corporations internationally.

Lloyd Etheredge's interest is to develop rapid learning systems to accelerate the process of scientific innovation; and to develop social science research concerning wisdom and good outcomes as properties of the world's complex, (sometimes) adaptive systems. He is a former Director of Graduate Studies for International Relations at Yale. He received a graduate teaching award at MIT.

Mark Fink

Vice Provost, UNLV

Mark Fink is Associate Vice Provost for Online Education in the Division of Educational Outreach at the University of Nevada. He is the campus liaison and a member of the Campus Leaders Advisory Board for the New Media Consortium, an international community of experts in educational technology.

Brian Fitzgerald

VP, Knewton

Brian Fitzgerald has been developing successful digital consumer and B2B products and services for 18 years, the past 4 of which have been with Knewton. Recently, he served as Vice President, Education for Audible.com. Brian was an original member of the Yahoo Mail team. He has built and managed more than 50 Yahoo products.

Armando Fox

Professor-in-Residence, EECS Department at UC Berkeley

Armando Fox is a Professor-in-Residence in the EECS Department at UC Berkeley and a co-founder of the UC Berkeley RAD Lab. As of Fall 2012, he has been named half-time Academic Director of the Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education, helping UC Berkeley to build an infrastructure that will support the campus’ many online education initiatives.

Robert Fuller*

Former President, Oberlin College

Robert Fuller is a former president of Oberlin College, and a leader of the dignity movement to overcome rankism. Fuller's books have been published in India, Bangladesh, and China, featured in the New York Times, in TED talks, on NPR, C-Span, and the BBC. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Ken Goldberg

Professor, UC Berkeley

Ken Goldberg is craigslist Distinguished Professor of New Media at UC Berkeley. Goldberg directs the Automation Sciences Research lab and is Faculty Director of the CITRIS Data and Democracy Initiative. He is Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research. His art installations are related to his research and have been exhibited at several venues.

John Halpin

VP Strategic Programs, Center for Digital Education

John Halpin serves as the Vice President of Strategic Programs for the Center for Digital Education, a Division of e.Republic. He is a frequent speaker at education events discussing how technology is changing the educational landscape. He also leads the education research, consulting and editorial direction for the Center.

Alan Heppenstall

Co-founder, Accredible

Alan Heppenstall, an internet entrepreneur and web consultant passionate about education, is the Co-Founder of Accredible, a startup that provides users with the option of creating their own certificates. He is also the Co-Founder of The Durham Entrepreneurs Society.

Garry Jacobs*

Chairman of the Board & CEO, World Academy of Art and Science

Garry Jacobs is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, World Academy of Art & Science and Vice President of The Mother's Service Society, a social science research institute in Pondicherry, India. From 1989 to 1994, he was Member-Secretary of the International Commission on Peace & Food (ICPF) and editor of the Commission's report to the UN.

Jeremy Johnson

Chief Strategy Officer, 2U.com

Jeremy Johnson co-founded 2U.com to help the best universities in the world become the best universities in the world online, as well. He's been featured on "30 Under 30" lists for Forbes and Inc Magazine, and was named one of the "30 Most Influential Entrepreneurs" by Under30 CEO.

Neal King

President, International Association of University Presidents

Neal King serves as President and CEO of Sofia University. He was a member of IAUP's delegation to the launch of the United Nations Academic Impact Initiative in NYC and to the World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar. With extensive experience as a psychologist in private practice, he has served in a variety of faculty and administrative positions.

Danny King

Co-founder, Accredible

Danny King, an education technology entrepreneur based in California and the UK, is the Co-Founder and CEO of Accredible, a startup that provides users with the option of creating their own certificates. He is a Computer Scientist and programmer and sees technology as a natural way to innovate in education.

An Krumberger*

Co-founder and Director, Council One

An Krumberger is a co-founder and Director of Council One, an international organization dedicated to making a valuable and lasting contribution to the emerging new world. He is also the Chairman and Co-founder of World 2033, a global forum to take place in 2015 bringing together professionals, key decision makers and experts from major global fields.

Larry Lagerstrom

Director of Online Learning, School of Engineering, Stanford University

Larry Lagerstrom is an Academic Director and historian of science at Stanford University. His degrees include a Ph.D. in history and an M.A. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley. Before coming to Stanford he taught for sixteen years at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Davis, covering subjects ranging from the history of science and technology to computer science and engineering. He has received three awards for excellence in teaching.

Gary Matkin is Dean, Continuing Education, Distance Learning, and Summer Session at the University of California, Irvine. He is responsible for all aspects of the academic programs and operations of University Extension, Summer Session and the UCI Distance Learning Center. He directs the University’s contribution to the Open Educational Resources movement.

Billy Meinke

Creative Commons

Billy is an instructional designer and open education advocate, and is currently a project assistant at Creative Commons. He works towards CC’s goals through projects that build Open Educational Resources (OER) on the web. He holds a BA in sociology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an M.Ed in educational technology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

John Mitchell

Vice Provost, Stanford University

John Mitchell is Mary and Gordon Crary Family Professor in the School of Engineering, Professor of Computer Science, and (by courtesy) Professor of Electrical Engineering and of Education. He has been at the forefront of Web and network security research and education for more than a decade, co-developing Stanford’s computer security course and teaching online computer security courses to professionals.

Winston Nagan*

Director, Institute for Human Rights, Peace and Development, University of Florida

Winston Nagan is Professor of Law, University of Florida, Levin College of Law and Founding Director, Institute for Human Rights, Peace and Development. He is also a Trustee of the World Academy of Art and Science, a member of the Editorial Board of Cadmus Journal and Editor in Chief of Eruditio Journal.

Joanna Normoyle

Experimental & Digital Media Learning Coordinator

As an internship coordinator for the new undergraduate major in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems, Joanna Normoyle develops programs and curricula that center on experiential learning through a learner-driven, competency-based framework. She works in the development of the SA&FS Internship Program and a new digital portfolio tool for students using badges technology.

Lynne O’Brien is Associate Vice Provost for Digital and Online Education Initiatives. She works with faculty and university leaders to plan experiments with new online teaching and learning strategies and encourages their appropriate integration into campus teaching. Currently, she is leading Duke’s activities in developing Massive Open Online Courses and exploring ways to incorporate online activities into campus courses.

Yuko Okubo

Social Research Scientist, Fujitsu

Yuko Okubo is a social research scientist of Open Education Solutions at Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Yuko Okubo is conducting research on curation learning to explore novel ways of learning in the digital age. Prior to joining FLA, she was a Social Science Research Council-Abe Fellow and Lecturer at UC Berkeley and a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore. She has taught college students in the U.S., Singapore, and Japan. She received her Ph. D. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and M.A. in Education from Kyoto University, Japan. As a social research scientist of Open Education Solutions at Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Yuko Okubo is conducting research on curation learning to explore novel ways of learning in the digital age. Prior to joining FLA, she was a Social Science Research Council-Abe Fellow and Lecturer at UC Berkeley and a postdoctoral fellow at the National University of Singapore.

Aftab Omer*

President, Meridian University

Aftab Omer, Ph.D. is a sociologist, psychologist, futurist and the president of Meridian University. Raised in Pakistan, India, Hawaii, and Turkey, he was educated at the universities of M.I.T, Harvard and Brandeis. His publications have addressed the topics of transformative learning, cultural leadership, generative entrepreneurship and the power of imagination. He is a Fellow of the International Futures Forum and the World Academy of Art and Science.

Roberto Peccei*

Former Vice Chancellor of Research, UCLA, Trustee, Trustee of WAAS, Vice President, Club of Rome

Roberto Peccei, a particle physicist, is Professor of Physics and Astronomy and former Vice Chancellor for Research at UCLA. He is a member of the Club of Rome and a Trustee of the World Academy of Art and Science. He is broadly interested in the kind of economics that needs to be developed to ensure a sustainable world.

Mo Qayoumi

President of San Jose State University

Mohammad Humayon Qayoumi is the president and a professor of electrical engineering at San José State. Qayoumi served as president of California State University East Bay from 2006 to 2011. He has over 32 years of engineering and administrative experience in several universities. He has made presentations at numerous conferences across the United States and in 10 other countries.

Ivo Šlaus*

President, World Academy of Art and Science

Ivo Šlaus, a nuclear and particle physicist, is currently President of the World Academy of Art and Science and Dean of the Dag Hammarskjold University College for International Relations & Diplomacy, Zagreb. He is a member of the international advisory council of the Club of Rome; and a founding Fellow of Academia Europaea.

Philip Stark

Profesor and Chair, Department of Statistics, UC Berkeley

Philip B. Stark is professor and chair of Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught Berkeley's first official online course in 2006, developed the underlying technology and pedagogical materials from scratch and co-taught three edX MOOCs in 2013. He serves on the Faculty Advisory Committee of the Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education.

Dale Stephens

President of uncollege.org

Dale Stephens is the founder and CEO of UnCollege.org. In May 2011, at age nineteen, Stephens was selected out of hundreds of individuals around the world as a Thiel Fellow, a program recognizing the top twenty entrepreneurs around the world under the age of twenty. Stephens speaks regularly at high-profile events around the world. In 2013, Forbes recognized him as a 30 Under 30 Leader.

Candace Thille

Stanford University, founding director of The Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University

Candace Thille is Assistant Professor of Education at the Stanford’s Graduate School of Education and Senior Research Fellow for the Office of the Vice Provost for Online Learning. She is also the founding director of the Open Learning Initiative at Carnegie Mellon University. She serves as a redesign scholar for the National Center for Academic Transformation.

Ralph Wolff*

Former President, Western Association of Schools & Colleges

Ralph Wolff serves as Senior Advisor of The Western Association of Schools and Colleges. During his tenure as President from 1996-August 2013, WASC became recognized globally as a leading innovator in accreditation. He founded and for ten years directed the Institute for Creative Thinking, a forum for higher education leaders to explore change in higher education and establish learning organizations.

Alberto Zucconi*

President, IACP, Italy

Alberto Zucconi is president of the Person-Centred Approach Institute (IACP), and a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Academy of Art and Science. He was a faculty member of the Western Behavioural Science Institute (WBSI) in La Jolla, and is a fellow of the International Leadership Forum (ILF), an online global think tank.

* Denotes Fellows of World Academy of Art & Science

World Academy Forum on Global Higher Education

2-3 October 2013 • UC Berkeley, CA, USA

Participants

Fabián Banga

Distance Education Coordinator, Berkeley City College

Tony Bates

President, Tony Bates Associates Ltd.

Bob Berg*

Former Senior Adviser, World Education Forum

Gary Brahm

President of Brandman University

George W. Breslauer

Executive Vice Chancellor, UC Berkeley

Cecily Cai

Student, University of California, Berkeley

Ilse Bechara Castilla

Consulate General of Colombia

Norman Chambers

Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies and Education at San Diego State University and Director of the Carl Rogers Institute of Psychotherapy, Training, and Supervision, Multicultural Counseling and Consulting Center

Dan Clancy

Director of Education, Google

Sarah Coleman

Senior Manager, Experiential Learning, Net Impact

Emil Constantinescu*

President, Academy of Cultural Diplomacy; former President of Romania and Rector University of Bucharest

OVERVIEW

The World Academy of Art and Science is composed of 730 individual Fellows from diverse cultures, nationalities, and intellectual disciplines, chosen for eminence in art, the natural and social sciences, and the humanities. Established in 1960 by distinguished individuals concerned by the impact of the explosive growth of knowledge, its activities seek to address global issues related to the social consequences and policy implications of knowledge. The Academy serves as a forum for reflective scientists, artists, and scholars to discuss the vital problems of humankind independent of political boundaries or limits, whether spiritual or physical -- a forum where these problems can be discussed objectively, scientifically, globally, and free from vested interests or regional attachments, to arrive at solutions that affirm universal human rights and serve the interests of all humanity. WAAS is founded on faith in the power of original and creative ideas -- Real Ideas with effective power -- to change the world. Its motto is "Leadership in thought that leads to action."

The spirit of the Academy can be expressed in the words of Albert Einstein: "The creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind." Its Fellows share the ambition (as the Founders said in their 1960 Manifesto) "to rediscover the language of mutual understanding," surmounting differences in tradition, language, and social structure which, unless fused by creative imagination and continuous effort, dissolve the latent human commonwealth in contention and conflict.

The aim of the Academy's founders was to function as "an informal WORLD UNIVERSITY at the highest scientific and ethical level, in which deep human understanding and the fullest sense of responsibility will meet."

MISSION

The World Academy of Art and Science is an association of committed individuals drawn from diverse cultures, nationalities, occupations and intellectual pursuits spanning the arts, humanities and sciences, conscious of the profound social consequences and policy implications of knowledge, and united by a common aspiration to address the urgent challenges and emerging opportunities confronting humanity today. Our mission is to promote cross-disciplinary dialogue generative of original ideas and integrated perspectives that comprehend the root causes and effective remedies for our common problems, while furthering those currents of thought and social movement that affirm the value of human dignity and equitable development. The Academy dedicates itself to the pursuit of creative, catalytic ideas that can provide to present and future generations enlightened leadership in thought that leads to effective action.

HISTORY

The idea of founding an international association for exploring major concerns of humanity in a nongovernmental context grew out of many conversations that took place among leading scientists and intellectuals in the years following World War II. Prominent among this group were people such as Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer who had played a part in the development of the atomic bomb and were deeply concerned about how it and other scientific advances might be used – or misused.

This informal project took a major step forward in 1956, when a meeting – The First International Conference on Science and Human Welfare – was held in Washington, D. C. The organizers were two American scientists: Richard Montgomery Field of Princeton, who had worked for many years as chairman of an international committee on the social values of science; and John A. Fleming, former President of the International Council of Scientific Unions. At the end of the conference, participants agreed to take steps toward the formation of a World Academy, and elected an International Preparatory Committee for that purpose. Its members were: (from France) Pierre Chouard, George Laclavére and G. Le Lionnaise; (from the United Kingdom) Ritchie Calder, H. Munro Fox and Joseph Needham; and (from the United States) Robert Oppenheimer.

The Academy was formally founded (and its first officers elected) in 1960. They were: as President, Lord John Boyd Orr of Scotland; as Vice Presidents, Hermann Joseph Muller of the United States and Hugo Ostvald of Sweden; and, as Secretary General, Hugo Boyko of Israel.

Advisors to the Board

PARTNERS

HOW TO DONATE TO THE ACADEMY

The World Academy is incorporated in the State of California and Fellows elected from 86 different countries. WAAS is recognized by the US Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt private foundation under section 501(c)(3).

CADMUS JOURNAL

Cadmus is a journal for fresh thinking and new perspectives that integrate knowledge from all fields of science, art and humanities to address real-life issues, inform policy and decision-making, and enhance our collective response to the challenges and opportunities facing the world today.

ERUDITIO E-JOURNAL

Eruditio is the electronic journal of the World Academy of Art & Science. The vision of the Journal complements and enhances the World Academy's focus on global perspectives in the generation of knowledge from all fields of legitimate inquiry.

The Journal also mirrors the World Academy's specific focus and mandate which is to consider the social consequences and policy implications of knowledge in the broadest sense. It is a multidisciplinary forum focused on the social consequences and policy implications of all forms of knowledge on a global basis.

PAPERS BY CATEGORY

BOOKS

The Security & Sustainability Guide

A 250-page “Interim Draft” PDF of The S&S Guide, a project of the World Academy of Art & Science, will be available for limited distribution free of charge. It reflects the critical fact that sustainability and security are both essential and can only be achieved in concert. The Guide is incomplete, but the compilers believe that, even in its current state, many will find it useful for illuminating many of the most serious problems facing humanity under the broad, overlapping categories of “Security” (weapons proliferation, terrorism, cyber-attacks, economic and food insecurity, human rights, peacemaking, crime and corruption, inadequate infrastructure, etc.) and “Sustainability” (climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, energy, agriculture, population growth, cities, oceans, forests, vulnerability to disasters, green economics and nance, etc.)

Democracy is under siege. Traditional bastions of liberal democracy are faltering. Young democracies are reverting to their authoritarian pasts. Populism, corporatization of the media, fake news, retreat from globalism, oligarchy, corruption and other perils are undermining fairness, effectiveness and truthfulness. Just when it appeared that the world was converging on a universal set of values and standards for governance at the national and international level, fundamental questions are being raised regarding the viability and sustainability of democratic institutions. Recent events raise fundamental questions regarding the institutions of governance and also about the underlying social, psychological, cultural and evolutionary processes that determine how these institutions function.

Is democracy in its current form really the most viable and effective system of governance? Are human beings sufficiently rational and selfless to govern themselves justly and effectively? Is the future of democracy at the national level compatible with the persistence of non-democratic institutions at the international level? By what process has the distribution of social power shifted from army, monarchy, aristocracy to democracy and how is that process likely to evolve further in future? To what extent are the institutional problems confronting democracy today reflections of underlying social, psychological and cultural factors and processes? What proven and potential safeguards and remedies are available to address the failures and insufficiencies of contemporary democracies? Is democracy the best possible system or merely a stage in the evolution of governance toward something more stable, an effective and equitable system?

Mind is humanity's highest developed instrument for seeking knowledge. It is the master tool that we use to comprehend the present, remember the past, and anticipate and plan for the future. From the act of striking two flints together to create fire to combining strings of 1s and 0s to design the code for supercomputers, mind has enabled humanity to create remarkable technologies and organized global institutions. The mind is the unifying foundation on which humanity’s entire social evolution is based. To understand this vital instrument better, the World Academy of Art & Science and World University Consortium have launched a ground-breaking project to explore Mind, Thinking and Creativity. A greater understanding of the nature of mind, its ways of knowing, the limits to thinking and rationality, mind's untapped potential, the workings of creativity and genius are essential for addressing the challenges confronting humanity today.

In April 2016 WAAS and WUC, along with partnering organizations IACP, IUC, DHUC, and MSS organized a four-day roundtable on Mind, Thinking and Creativity 2016 at Dubrovnik, Croatia for to explore fundamental questions. The meeting was attended by experts from different fields of natural and social science, including medicine, neuroscience, engineering, psychology, sociology, economics, law, and philosophy. Video recordings, presentations and papers for the roundtable are available here. The enthusiastic interest generated by the Dubrovnik meeting spurred efforts of WAAS and the World University Consortium to commence work on a on-line course on this subject which is now underway. A report on last year's meeting including videos and presentations was included in the Academy's July 2016 newsletter.

Roundtable 2 -- November 2017 at Dubrovnik

The second roundtable on Mind, Thinking & Creativity is being conducted by the World University Consortium, the World Academy of Art & Science, the Mother's Service Society, Person-Centered Approach Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and the Inter-University Centre from November 6-8, 2017 at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

A Post-Graduate Certificate Course in Human-Centered Economics will be conducted by the World Academy of Art & Science, the World University Consortium, The Mother's Service Society, Person-Centered Approach Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia from Feb 1-Feb 3,2017 at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

The multidimensional challenges confronting humanity today are human-made and can be changed by a change in thought and action. Contemporary economic thought is built on a mind-frame that originated prior to the Industrial Revolution when scarcity of goods in a world of abundant resources was the primary concern, economic growth was considered synonymous with human welfare, and impact of humanity on the environment was completely ignored. Without challenging obvious flaws in existing theory, it will be not be possible to significantly alter current policies and practices.

The overall aim of the course is to (a) demonstrate why mainstream neo-classical economic theory is inappropriate for dealing with the global challenges of the c.21st, and (b) explore alternative approaches for achieving ecologically sustainable, human-centered development and welfare for all.

This course will present the findings of a five year research program of the World Academy of Art & Science and the on-going work of the New Economic Theory working group. It will harness the best available ideas and practices on human-centred, sustainable economy to create informative, authoritative and compelling educational and communication tools with the power to challenge and alter university level education in Economics, public policy, business decisions, media coverage and general public opinion regarding how the world economy should and can work for the betterment of all humanity.

A Post-Graduate Certificate Course in Social Power, Empowerment & Social Evolution will be conducted by the World Academy of Art & Science, the World University Consortium, The Mother's Service Society, Person-Centered Approach Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia from Oct 31-Nov 4, 2016 at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Humanity lives in a time of unprecedented capacity for accomplishment in every field of social life. Never before have we possessed power of this magnitude for good or for evil. Never before has power been so widely distributed within society. Democracy, law, human rights, science, technology, education and many other forms of social organization have generated immense power. Society governs the possession and exercise of this power through formal structures and institutions, such as law and human rights, as well as through both legitimate and extra-legal informal mechanisms including status, wealth, popularity, political influence and corruption. The distribution of power in its various forms powerfully impacts on the functioning of the economy, political system, educational, scientific, religious and and other social institutions, and on the overall productivity, strength, integrity, harmony and welfare of society. This transdisciplinary course will explore the sources, expressions, determinants and consequences of the creation, distribution and exercise of social power in its various expressions in politics, economy, society and culture and its consequences for the evolution of society as a whole.

Mind is humanity’s highest developed instrument for seeking knowledge. It is an instrument with remarkable capabilities and characteristic limitations. It is ironic that we invest so little time in education and scientific endeavor trying to understand the nature of mental knowledge and the character of the mental processes by which we arrive at it. The objective of this course is to arrive at an understanding of the inherent limits to rationality and mental ways of knowing, as well as the extraordinary creative and intuitive processes by which mind transcends those limitations and tends toward genius.

Thinking is the activity by which mind associates, organizes, coordinates and integrates information, thoughts and ideas. Creative thinking is the process by which mind extends the boundaries of existing thought and knowledge to connect, reconcile and unify previously unconnected or contradictory perspectives. This course will explore the characteristics of mental knowledge and thought processes, types of thinking, the character of rational thought, the mental and social construction of knowledge, deep thinking, creativity and genius. Rather than focus on abstract philosophical concepts, it will apply this knowledge to understand both the sources of humanity’s prolific mental creativity, the characteristic problems it confronts due to irresolvable conflicts and contradictions between mental perspectives, and their resolution in different fields of natural and social science, public policy, collective and individual behavior.

A Post-Graduate Certificate Course in Future Education was conducted by the World Academy of Art & Science, the World University Consortium, The Mother's Service Society, Person-Centered Approach Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia from September 21-23, 2015 at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Education is our best hope for a better future. Emergence of a new paradigm in education can radically abridge the time required for humanity to address critical issues related to economy, governance, ecology and life-style. Education is the best known instrument for ensuring universal human rights, promoting democracy, enhancing productivity and protecting the environment.There is urgent need to evolve a new paradigm in education appropriate to the needs of the 21st century. Closing the gap between social needs and educational capabilities is essential for addressing pressing challenges confronting humanity today. A review of education today makes evident that there is enormous scope for improving and developing the educational system. Whatever its current limitations in terms of inadequate coverage, quality and content, the means and potential exist for dramatically enhancing humanity’s individual and collective performance in virtually all spheres of our social existence by realistic, achievable improvements in education. We need a new paradigm in education capable of more fully and effectively developing the latent capacities of our youth.

A Post-Graduate Certificate Course in Essence of Effective Leadership was conducted by the World Academy of Art & Science, the World University Consortium, The Mother's Service Society, Person-Centered Approach Institute, Dag Hammarskjöld University College of International Relations and Diplomacy and Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia from March 31 to April 3, 2015 at Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

This course explored the characteristics common to leaders in business, politics, civil society, science, arts, professions and education and examined methods by which these characteristics can be consciously developed by individuals. The presentations consist of theory, practical strategies, and a wide range of examples drawn from biography, history, management, and literature from movies illustrating the principles under discussion. Apart from the presentations, our faculty interacted with participants to bring home the theoretical significance and practical relevance of the material.

The Individual is the catalyst of all social progress, the source of creativity, innovation, new ideas and new initiatives. The individual is the genetic source of human diversity. The entrepreneur, inventor, social reformer, revolutionary leader, original thinker and creative artist are a few of individuality's expressions. Yet how little we understand about the characteristics of true individuality, the ways in which it expresses, the means for developing it, and the means for realizing real individuality in one’s own life.

History demonstrates that individuals have the power to change the world. This course explored the relationship between personality and accomplishment. It examined the role of Individuality and Values in personal achievement, growth of personality and social progress drawing on evidence from Management Science, History, Psychology and Literature. It explored the relationship between creative individuals and society searching for insights into the principles and process that govern successful human initiatives and their consequences in various fields of life.

The course was intended for both students and practitioners in all fields interested in advancing theoretical understanding and practical approaches to promote the development of entrepreneurship, individuality, creativity, original thinking and other forms of social innovation. It explored the role of the individual in development of society, elucidated the characteristics of true individuals, the source of their amazing power for accomplishment and the process by which they act as catalysts of social innovation. While the presentation was academic, the objective was to impart original insights and practical knowledge for personal growth and individuation.

Today humanity is confronted by a plethora of serious challenges – political, economic, legal, social, cultural, psychological and ecological. These challenges are complex, interrelated, and global in reach. They are a reflection of the inadequacy of current institutions and policies and at a deeper level the inadequacy of current knowledge. They defy comprehension and resolution based on the prevailing principles of social science. The specialized knowledge developed by separate disciplines is inadequate to deal with the increasingly complex interdependencies of the real world. Knowledge needs to evolve to keep pace with the evolution of society.

The evolution of a complex, highly integrated global society necessitates the development of a more comprehensive and integrated science of society. The division into various specialized fields has been a useful mental strategy for the development of the social sciences, leading to significant advances in all fields – knowledge which needs to be preserved and enhanced by future developments. Yet it is increasingly evident that a more comprehensive and integrated approach is now required. As society evolves, its different functions develop greater complexity. At the same time they become more closely and complexly interlinked and interdependent on one another. Economy today is highly dependent on the political system and laws governing the distribution and enforcement of power in society, legal concepts regarding ownership of property and human rights, public institutions responsible for the creation and management of money, rules for commerce between nations, public policies influencing income and wealth distribution, processes that determine collective decision-making, public investment in education and training, and social expectations regarding economy and the future, etc. A recent announcement by the White House of an ‘intention’ to examine measures to discourage shifting of US firms to tax havens overseas resulted in a 10% fall in market value for several large firms.

Strategic Planning Committee Program Framework

Being a world academy composed of members drawn from the arts, social and physical sciences, humanities, business, public administration and civil society poses fundamental questions. How can WAAS distinguish itself from other national and regional academies? Is there really a common meeting point between art and science? Is there a unique contribution that WAAS can make to the world’s knowledge?

At the New Delhi General Assembly, Fellows explored facets of a new program framework developed by the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) which seeks to answer these questions in the affirmative. Rather than distinguish itself by specializing on a particular set of disciplines, issues or geographic area, the framework is an attempt to formulate a comprehensive approach and integrated perspective of knowledge inclusive of all disciplinary perspectives and applicable to social problems and opporunities in all fields.

The core of the framework is a human-centered conception of what constitutes reliable knowing, a question posed to the SPC by Ruben Nelson. In his presentation to the GA, Garry Jacobs explained how this conception applies to WAAS’s projects on new economic theory, individuality and limits to rationality. Pushpa Bhargava pointed out that a human centered perspective naturally incorporates ecology, since the survival and full development of humanity depends on its capacity to evolve in harmony with the environment.

New Paradigm Program

Scope: The world confronts multiple crises, each of which resists current efforts at resolution and appears intractable. The environmental crisis of climate change occupied the center stage in the mid-2000s. Fears of nuclear weapons proliferation, which had subsided into complacency in the years following the end of the Cold War, suddenly surfaced with renewed intensity when Korea tested nuclear weapons and long range missiles and news surfaced of Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program in 2007.

Then the subprime mortgage crisis exploded in late 2008, spreading havoc through financial markets across the world. It was followed quickly by a sudden and substantial slowing of economic growth in OECD countries, rising levels of unemployment and most recently a crisis of excessive government debt.

In spite of the enormous attention being given to each of these issues by specialists nationally and internationally, progress on all fronts appears to be nearly at a standstill or at least far too slow to meet pressing human concerns. The times we live in are a Wild West of globalization and the unbridled, unregulated expansion of international activities threatens to destabilize and undermine the remarkable progress of the previous five decades.

This project is predicated on the assumption that each of these problems defies solution because they all represent problems that transcend the sovereign powers of the nation-state. None of them can be fully and satisfactorily addressed by nation-states acting individually. All are symptoms of the evolution of world society to a stage where concerted and coordinated global action is required to meet the collective needs of humanity for peace, security, financial stability, economic welfare and sustainable development. This project has been conceived to address the underlying and interrelated issues that all these challenges pose to global governance.

World University Consortium

The mission of World University Consortium is to evolve and promote development of accessible, affordable, quality higher education worldwide based on a human-centered approach that shifts the emphasis from specialized expertise to contextualized knowledge within a trans-disciplinary conceptual framework reflecting the complexity and integration of the real world, from teaching mastery of a field of knowledge to learning that enhances the capacity of students to think and discover knowledge for themselves, from theoretical mastery to acquisition of knowledge, skills and values relevant to each individual’s personal development and career – an educational system better suited to develop the full potentials of social personality and individuality for productive engagement, social welfare and psychological well-being. The objectives are:

Identify global best practices and develop effective global models and strategies to improve accessibility, affordability, quality, innovation and relevance in higher education appropriate to the needs of the 21st century.

Develop innovative, open learning systems and more effective models that extend the reach of quality higher education to people of all age groups globally.

Explore new models of online and hybrid delivery systems designed to facilitate learning through teacher-student and student-student interaction.

Enhance the learning process through research, development and application of advanced instruments for measurement and evaluation of educational processes.

NEW ECONOMIC THEORY

A multidisciplinary group from the World Academy of Art & Science and the Club of Rome are leading a quest for a new human-centered theory of economics that reflects recent changes resulting from the emergence of a service-based economy, globalization, rising social aspirations and changing values, and is integrated with political, social, ecological, technological, and cultural factors from which it is inseparable.

TRANS-DISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE ON MIND, THINKING AND CREATIVITY

Mind is humanity’s highest developed instrument for seeking knowledge. It is an instrument with remarkable capabilities and characteristic limitations. It is ironic that we invest so little time in education and scientific endeavor trying to understand the nature of mental knowledge and the character of the mental processes by which we arrive at it.

The objective of this project is to arrive at an understanding of the inherent limits to rationality and mental ways of knowing, as well as the extraordinary creative and intuitive processes by which mind transcends those limitations and tends toward genius.

PROGRAM ON GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT CHALLENGE

Access to employment is the most essential requirement for providing economic security to the world’s burgeoning population.

This interdisciplinary dialogue explores theoretical and practical aspects of the global employment challenge, including its demographic, economic, legal, political, psychological dimensions as well as linkages with the international financial crisis, social stability, and terrorism.

EVOLUTION OF INDIVIDUALITY

Individuality is the crown of human evolution and the catalyst for social progress, yet there are very different conceptions of what constitutes true individuality, the relationship between the individual and society, and whether humanity is inevitably evolving toward higher levels of individuality.

This project will explore the essential nature of individuality, the social and cultural factors that foster it, its role in social development, its myriad expressions in the original thinker, creative artist, political leader, entrepreneur, inventor and social innovator, and the means available to society to foster it.

GLOBAL RULE OF LAW

The evolution of international law and human rights represent crucial threads in the progressive development of global rule of law.

This project will explore the relationship between the social, political and legal dimensions of global rule of law in an effort to frame the boundaries of a wider approach to the evolution of global governance. Emphasis will be place to re-examining the concept of national sovereignty and the common rights of humanity in an increasingly globalized world.

NEW SCIENCES

In 2013 WAAS launched a project to explore important developments in recently emerging fields of science, with e-conferences on the Science of Networks and the Science of Complexity. The project involves an application of concepts and tools from the new sciences relevant to address the global challenges confronting humanity today and to the evolution of a transdisciplinary science of society.

PROGRAM ON ABOLITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The devastating consequences of nuclear war and the potential destructive applications of science and technology were paramount concerns among Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell, Robert Oppenheimer, Joseph Rotblat and others which led to the founding of the World Academy in 1960.

Nuclear disarmament is a sine qua non for effectively addressing other issues of global important – terrorism, financial stability, unemployment, poverty, climate change, democratization of the UN and other aspects of global governance. In recent years, the Academy has conducted numerous conferences, seminars and workshops and collaborating with other organizations in an effort to promote concrete steps toward immediate and total global nuclear disarmament.

The Security & Sustainability Guide

A 250-page “Interim Draft” PDF of The S&S Guide, a project of the World Academy of Art & Science, will be available for limited distribution free of charge. It reflects the critical fact that sustainability and security are both essential and can only be achieved in concert. The Guide is incomplete, but the compilers believe that, even in its current state, many will find it useful for illuminating many of the most serious problems facing humanity under the broad, overlapping categories of “Security” (weapons proliferation, terrorism, cyber-attacks, economic and food insecurity, human rights, peacemaking, crime and corruption, inadequate infrastructure, etc.) and “Sustainability” (climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, energy, agriculture, population growth, cities, oceans, forests, vulnerability to disasters, green economics and nance, etc.)